Martin Dolan, who heads Australian Transport Safety Bureau, told the BBC that the plane debris is "very likely" from the missing flight.

He also said that the operation was continuing "in the right place" in the southern part of the ocean.

Mr Dolan, leading Australia's search efforts, said that he was "increasingly confident that the wreckage... is associated with a 777 aircraft".

Mr Dolan said that there is no other recorded case of a flaperon being lost from a Boeing 777, adding: "We are confident we have the quality of the search to cover that area and find the missing aircraft."

The debris washed up off Reunion Island, which is off the coast of Madagascar

Due to the imminent volcano eruption, some news outlets say that Malaysian aviation experts who arrived on the island on Thursday had to be evacuated from the site almost immediately, news.com.au reports.

However, Australian officials have denied rumours a volcanic eruption could scupper the MH370 investigation, The Telegraph reports.

It is not yet clear how the impending eruption could affect the investigation.

Full analysis of the debris could take longer than originally expected.

The Associated Press reports that the part could arrived in France on Saturday morning, according to the Paris prosecutor's office - meaning that families of those on flight MH370 could have to wait until next week for confirmation.

Xavier Tytleman, a former military pilot, told the Telegraph that: “Police in Reunion examining the wreckage say that it looks like it’s been in the water for about a year, which again would fit with MH370.

“We can’t say for certainty, but we do think there is a chance that this is it.”

The part of the aircraft in question is believed to be a flaperon – the part of the wing that controls the roll and bank of an aircraft.

The Beijing-bound Boeing 777 disappeared from radar with all 239 souls on board on 8 March last year, an hour into its departure from Kuala Lumpur.

If the debris is not connected to the disappearance of MH370 it will raise questions as to where it is from.